Facebook – having trouble keeping it up?

Is Facebook straining under the weight of its own rushed-out ‘improvements’ forced by the rapid expansion of Twitter?

It would certainly seem so if the current number of complaints is anything to go by.

There have been a number of minor bugs and glitches in the system recently but now for large swathes of humble users, it seems the problem has gotten considerably worse. Thousands of users are complaining about not being able to log-in for hours – even days – at a time. In some cases this has lasted for over a month with some customers still unable to access their site.

It’s not even a case of affected profiles being down or missing either – friends who can still log-in will tell you that the apparently affected profiles are, in fact, fine and without issue. One of the biggest complaints at the moment relating to these Facebook issues is that some kind of customer services department – or indeed accurate help information – is simply not available. There are numerous help pages but they are filled with speculative suggestions from other users, not factual resolutions from Facebook themselves.

Of course the biggest problem with the woeful help system that Facebook employs is that you have to be logged in to utilise the only form of actually contacting them! Now, I would love to be able to add here a comprehensive document of helpful information and guidelines regarding these problems: so that if you get caught out – you know what Facebook is doing to correct your issues and what the likely time frame and outcome will be.

But unfortunately, I can’t log-in either! So alas, as your humble servant I too can’t access customer services to ask Facebook for a suitable solution or response to the problems we are facing -or inform them about their growing amount of dissatisfied users.

*Note to Facebook – You must try harder to keep your users happy, they are your very reason for existence.

*Note to budding social networking site developers – when you up-scale your system to cope with a larger user-base and new developments, make sure you up-scale your customer services to match it!

this is also published on tech reviews site www.geeks.co.uk.

The Number 27 gets an upgrade

After a year of the site being ‘static’ and having a relative amount of restriction in operational use, the hosting came up for renewal, and it was decided to change hosts and upgrade the package. This has had a number of benefits, most notably the addition of ‘PHP’ and ‘MySQL’ Database funtionality, which has enabled the installation of a particularly good open source ‘Content Management System’ called MODx. This ‘CMS’ has a great number of back-end features and tools built within it to enable a much greater level of not only site construction, but also front-end features, notably a very solid Contact form system. Plus it also allows for much greater freedom with template variation, it also helps with targeted styling without overloading the ‘CSS’ or the site as a whole.

The addition of ‘MySQL’ databases has also allowed for a feature rich image slideshow management system to be installed into the back end system as well. This system is now providing the slideshows for the Gallery page and they operate very well with a clean transition and navigational system. This management system also provides a fully featured user interface that provides full image management that also reacts ‘live’ to your adjustments, for eg; a new image uploaded and assigned to an album will appear instantly in the slideshow that the album has been placed in, no further editing required.

Social Networking Sites

You will notice from browsing in here that I use various social networking sites extensively, but is it all worth it? Are they anything more than just another way to spend your time in front of your computer and not get any work done?

Well, Yes and No – is I think the honest answer because there are clear advantages, but also disadvantages with all of them. Myspace has the biggest user base and is one of the forerunners so I will start with that one.

The biggest advantages are the actual nature of the site – that it is open, easily accessed and as a consequence has a massive audience, this is particularly good if you are a musician for example, as it allows you to freely reach out to this massive audience and promote/sell your music, and also detail the forthcoming gigs you have lined up – most famously highlighted by the Arctic Monkey’s who gained a number one single and a record contract purely from self promotion on the site.

The scope for personalising it and making it very much your own space with your own style, or as a mirror to your website styling are virtually limitless, so it’s clearly a powerful tool. However it is not flawless, a number of record companies and musicians are very concerned, and many are in a permanent state of litigation because of the ability to download copyrighted material from the site. Some also argue that it is too open and allows for the manipulation and bullying of more vulnerable users – although it has to be noted that the privacy settings are very extensive and the potential dangers widely publicised, so it cannot really be argued that users don’t know what they are getting into.

Ok, next is Facebook, this site started as a network purely for American college students and was closed to the wider public, after successfully widening it’s users to include university students from around the world, it was finally opened up fully to public use in 2006, this has led to an explosion of user numbers looking for something different from Myspace (and the glut of small copycat sites like Bebo etc).

This huge influx has not been without problems though as the site could not keep up and so it suffered failures regularly, and in a bid to combat this the site was re-designed, much to the chagrin of a great number of users who felt that it was heading towards Myspace, and that was what they were trying to avoid. Is it any use though? Well if you want an online tool to share any aspect of your life with your friends regardless of how far apart you live, and yet still keep it private from anyone you don’t know, then it’s just about perfect.

However, it is the polar opposite of Myspace, so it is ruthlessly private by default which can make it difficult to connect with people you want to, and it is also a completely controlled environment – there is very little option to put your own stamp on what is effectively your space – there are lots of things you can add, but you have little or no say as to where you put them.

Finally, there is the new kid on the block – Twitter, this is a whole different ball game, it is technically still a social networking site, but not like any of the others.
Twitter’s primary and main focus is as a Blog (web-log) of your daily life, designed to allow you to post regular and short updates about quite literally what you have just done, or are about to do. It doesn’t work in the same nature with friends either, with Twitter you are following the Blog, generally not as a friend, but as a complete stranger, this is a little disconcerting, and is strange to get used to, but a number of users do have massive followings so it is clearly not something that bothers many, Stephen Fry for example has literally millions of followers on the site.

It is not without it’s flaws either though, as it’s very difficult to actually find someone (sorry, a Blog) that you either know of, or think you might be interested in, and because the focus is on the Blog, there is only very basic options to personalise your space (sorry, Blog).

SEO – a dark art?

Search Engine Optimisation – what’s it all about, do you need to use it, and do you need to sell your soul to the devil for good results?

Well, you need to think about it if you want your site to be discovered in Google – which is so much more popular than the other engines (Yahoo, Ask, etc..) that it is widely used as the generic name for searching on the internet.

So how do you compete with the millions of websites out there? Well, basically you need to have what your target visitors are likely to type into Google, in amongst your keywords, description, and site content. keywords are tags, and the description is a basic summary, and these are within the HTML of the site that the engine looks at – but, crucially it also checks to see if those same keywords and descriptions are included amongst the main site content – and woe betide any sites that blatantly dis-regard this parity between them, as Google take a very dim view, and routinely demotes sites down to the depths of obscurity for this practice. However just plonking it all in any old how won’t cut the mustard either as they must also remain in the context of the wider content.

So what is needed to be done? firstly, you need to establish what your target visitor is likely to type into Google, this will include specific services or products you may provide, and also, especially if you provide a localised service you need include a degree of location context. Then you need to make sure that all of this is not only included in your site content, but is clear and within the context, and most importantly it has to read well for the visitor – all this work getting visitors to your site will be wasted if they are then confronted with a load of incoherent gibberish!

Yikes! Sounds like it’s very involved and my site will need re-writing – well maybe, but probably not, there are some simple steps to follow that will get you on your way – there are methods to speed up the process too, by paying for Sponsored links, and also tools like Adwords that charge on a pay-per-click basis for example, both of these are designed to increase traffic, which because there is a nature of a popularity factor in Google’s indexing, will help to push you up the rankings, but primarily it is all about getting your content in tune with your visitor – And beware of those companies that promise top of first page listings in a matter of weeks – Rubbish – not possible – there is don’t forget, probably thousands of sites competing for the same positions!. You can though, after careful, long term monitoring, and subtle alterations get very good search results based on what your target visitors are looking for – which in turn will self-sustain with the popularity factor of the engine.

So what else can I do? Well, Google likes links! It likes transparency within your site, so clear links navigating around and within are always welcome. It also likes links pointing at your site from exterior sources – this suggests popularity so will help too. It is however, abundantly clear that there is no ‘quick fix’ when it comes to getting good results, it just needs time and patience. Or you could of course see what a pound of flesh is worth these days……what was his number again?

Site Design

Feelings are pretty mixed on this, should a website reflect whats already out there? or should it strive to be different?. There is a school of thought that says people like familiarity and anything that is too different from the norm is viewed with uncertainty, and sometimes even Contempt.

I, however belong to the camp that thinks sites should strive to be different and break the mould, push the envelope, and other such analogies suggesting that it is beyond convention. Beyond Convention is a great term, it suggests that the mass produced clone-like form that we are fed on a daily basis is not good enough, even Unacceptable. I like this as it promotes forward thinking and development, which can only serve as a good thing for the wider audience and user.

PC Vs. Mac

Being a PC owner and user, working in an Apple Mac dominated environment, I find myself continually having to defend the virtues of the Windows platform, and point out that, although undeniably brilliant in some fields, Apple Mac is by no means perfect either (and not just because of the mortgage inducing cost!).

So it is with utter dismay that I keep finding people and companies who are still using IE6. This is very frustrating as upgrading to IE7 or even the beta test of IE8 is not only free, but very quick and painless to do!. Firefox as an alternative, is also free and easy to install and use, which makes this persistance of sticking to a very inferior browser like IE6 utter madness, which as a result, also does nothing to stop the tide of windows abuse! Grrrr.

Noise Limiters

It has been brought to my attention that new noise legislation is about to be introduced that is likely to virtually Destroy live music in the UK. The government wish to consider it a legal Requirement in the new tax year to introduce laws insisting anyone applying or re-applying for an entertainment licence Must have a noise control device fitted to the venue. This will be the final nail in the coffin for pretty much ALL entertainment in the UK as the level at which these devices cut the power off is ridiculously low. In the experience of most musicians, any venue that has one in use cannot have any electric music as the power is constantly being cut mid-song – and even loud applause at the end of a song can cut it. Venues are Suffering enough as it is without being forced to go to the expense of fitting one of these damned things. Noise limiters are a Menace to live music, and it is suspected that this is the bright idea of some unelected suit in Brussels that’s never been to a gig in their life.

If you enjoy live Music you cannot ignore this. Go straight to the Number 10 website and to help put an end to this Stupidity.

19/02/2009 – The Governments Response:
“We are pleased to tell you that there is no truth in claims that the Government is planning to introduce a requirement for entertainment venues to fit noise control devices.
Each Local Authority Licensing Authority considers every live music application on its merits, and decisions are made entirely by them. However, the Licensing Act 2003 does not allow mandatory conditions for live music to be imposed across the board. It would not be possible to impose such a condition without a change in the law and such a change is not, and never has been, on the Government’s agenda.
There is also no legal requirement under health and safety legislation for entertainment venues to have noise control devices fitted, nor is there any proposal.
The Government is acutely aware of the contribution that music makes to our culture and we remain committed to a vibrant and flourishing creative sector, of which live music plays an essential part.”

Liberty – an affront to it – the 696 form.

The 696 form Compels licensees who wish to hold live music events in 21 London Boroughs to report to the police the names, addresses, aliases and telephone numbers of performers, and most worryingly, the likely ethnicity of their audience. Failure to comply could result in Fines or Imprisonment. This places unnecessary and frankly Orwellian powers in the hands of the Metropolitan Police, an institution which does not have the best record of racial fairness. The 696 form can only serve to Deter the staging of live musical events – a positive form of activity in London and all cities – stifle free expression and quite possible penalise certain genres of music and ethnic audiences. It is an Intrusion too far.